DEUTSCHLAND	GERMANY
Bundesland: Nordrhein-Westfalen	North Rhine-Westphalia
Regierungsbezirk: Düsseldorf
Stadt: Duisburg

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• lv: Dīsburga • fr: Duisbourg • lt: Duisburgas • es, it: Duisburgo
• el: Ντούισμπουργκ
• sr: Дуизбург • be, bg, ru, uk: Дуйсбург

Duisburg is situated at an elevation of 33 m on the river Rhine and the river Ruhr. Already the Romans had fortified this place due to its strategic position at a ford across the Rhine. Duisburg was first mentioned in AD 883. During the 10th century it became a royal residence. In 1290 Duisburg came in possession of the counts of Kleve. Together with the duchy of Kleve it became part of the Electorate of Brandenburg in 1666. During the 19th century Duisburg became one of the centres of coal mining in the Ruhr region. Today Duisburg is the largest inner harbour of Europe.
	The Salvatorkirche (church of the Saviour) [left, no. 1562: top picture, centre; and right, no. 2011: right] is the historically most important church in Duisburg. Its first mention in a document goes back to AD 983. The wooden church of the 19th century was replaced by a Romanesque basilica in the 13th century. The present church was built between 1353 and 1415 in Gothic style. The church tower was rebuilt in 1513 after it had been destroyed by a fire in 1467. Since 1571 the church is a Protestant church. After another fire in 1613 it took until 1683 until the church and its tower were restored. The tower then received a Baroque roof. Restoration works between 1898 and 1904 aimed at recreating the old Gothic appearance. After severe damages during World War II, the church was restored until 1960. The tall Neo-Gothic spire which the church tower had received in 1904, however, was not rebuilt out of concerns about the tower's statics. The church holds the tomb of the famous cartographer Gerhard Mercator (1512–1594). The Rathaus (Town Hall) [left, no. 1562: bottom left picture; and right, no. 2011: centre left] is located on the Burgplatz, which had been the site of a Frankish royal residence during the Middle Ages. The earliest mention of a town hall in Duisburg dates from 1361. When Duisburg had become a large industrial town during the 19th century, a new town hall was built in 1843. This building was replaced by an even larger building with its characteristic tower (67 m) between 1897 and 1902. This construction is depicted on glass no. 1562 [left]. The town hall was severely damaged during World War II. After the war the building was restored in reduced forms. The Kaiser-Wilhelm-Denkmal (monument for Emperor Wilhelm I) [left, no. 1562: bottom right picture] on the Kaiserberg was created by the sculptor Friedrich Reusch in 1898. The bronze equestrien statue of the first German emperor (King of Prussia 1861, German Emperor 1871–1888) stood on a limestone base above an artificial rock understructure. Water from an artificial fountain cascaded from the rocks of the monument down along the slope of the Kaiserberg. All bronze parts of the monument were melted down in 1942.
	Bruckhausen Coal mining in Hamborn/Bruckhausen (since 1929 part of Duisburg) began in 1867. After the French-German war of 1870/1871 and the foundation of the German Empire, the colliery was renamed Gewerkschaft Deutscher Kaiser [right] in 1871. In 1880 the colliery was acquired by August Thyssen who began to enlarge it to an integrated iron and steel mill in 1890. Almost all collieries in Duisburg were closed during the 1950s and 1960s.
	Hamborn Hamborn was first mentioned as Havemburn in a document dating from around 962. The land was given to the Archbishop of Cologne in 1136, to build a Premonstratensian monastery. The abbey and the neighbouring villages were part of the duchy of Kleve (Cleves), which in 1666 became part of Brandenburg, Prussia. Until the early 19th century Hamborn was still a small village. In 1929, Hamborn was incorporated into Duisburg in 1929. Until the merger, Hamborn was an independent city and at that time was one of the 40 largest cities in Germany. Since 1 January 1975, has been one of seven districts or boroughs (Stadtbezirk) of Duisburg. The town hall of Hamborn [left, no. 4190] was built in 1902–1904 in Historistic Renaissance revival style by the architect Robert Neuhaus. The side wings were added in 1910. Today, the building is home to the administration of the city district of Hamborn. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamborn]
	Meiderich Meiderich is a northern district of the city of Duisburg, separated from Duisburg by the river Ruhr. The oldest mentions of Meiderich date from the 10th century. For centuries it was just a small village, but during the industrialisation during the 19th century it began to grow rapidly. In 1808 Meiderich was merged with the community of Ruhrort. In 1874 Meiderich and Ruhrort were separated again and Meiderich was chartered as a town in 1894. In 1905 Meiderich and Ruhrort were united with Duisburg. Duisburg's district of Meiderich/Beeck, which consisits of Beeck, Beeckerwerth, Bruckhausen, Laar and Meiderich, today has about 82,000 inhabitants. The Rathaus (town hall) of Meiderich [right, glass no. 1890: top picture] was built in 1874. The building was destroyed in 1943. The lower left picture on glass no. 1890 shows the Nordhafen (north harbour) and Wasserturm (water tower) in Meiderich. The origins of the Protestant church of Mittelmeiderich [bottom right] go back to the 11th century. The first church, a Romanesque basilica, was enlarged and rebuilt in the 14th and 16th centuries. This old church collapsed in 1862 and only the tower of 1502 remained. The church was then rebuilt in 1862/63. During World War II it luckily was only slightly damaged. The famous painter Wilhelm Lehmbruck (1881–1919) was born in Meiderich.
	Ruhrort Ruhrort is a district in the borough of Homberg/Ruhrort/Baerl within the German city of Duisburg situated north of the confluence of the Ruhr and the Rhine. Ruhrort was founded in 1371 as a customs site and was granted town status in 1551. Due to its convenient position on the junction of two important waterways a shipping guild and a harbour had been created by 1665, mainly for trading coal from the Ruhr Valley mines. The harbour was in steady competition with the harbour of Duisburg which was located only 3 kilometers to the south. In 1701 the town fell to Prussia and the government, who had taken over the control over the harbour by 1766, gradually expanded the docks and basins. When the Köln–Minden Railroad built its line via the nearby towns of Duisburg and Oberhausen it connected Ruhrort to their network in 1848 and constructed the so-called "Eisenbahnhafen" (railway harbour) in order to convey their trains to the areas west of the Rhine by train ferries. During the 1860s the vast north and south basins ("Nordhafen" and "Südhafen") were built. The beginning of the 20th century saw the neighbouring village of Beeck incorporated into Ruhrort, and barely two years later in 1905 the city of Duisburg was established, absorbing Ruhrort along with the towns of Meiderich, Marxloh and Hamborn. The Schifferbörse [left, no. 4832: right] was built in 1899–1901 in splendid 'Scandinavian' style folowing a design by the architect Karl Hinckeldeyn. After heavy war damages in October 1944, the building was finally completely destroyed shortly after the war by a fire caused by playing children. A new office building was erected in 1952. The new building was bought by the city of Duisburg in 1980 and since a thorough renovation is again used for maritime purposes. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruhrort; https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schifferb%C3%B6rse]